Chief Sayialel

Chairman

Born in Maji Moto, Sayialel traded cattle until moving on to establish the first formal business in Talek town. He entered politics in 1980 and worked as a councilor in Talek. In 1985, he took the position of Chief of Koiyaki. Although he retired in 2006, Sayialel was instrumental in the establishment of Olare Orok Conservancy and continues to play an essential role, using diplomacy and charisma to steer the community with good direction.

Dickson Kaelo

Community Consultant

BSc Animal Production, MSc Wildlife Management

Dickson was born and raised within the Greater Mara area, in Lemek Group Ranch, Although he plays an important role in Olare Orok Conservancy, he operates throughout Maasailand as a facilitator and consultant to the communities and is very much in demand. He has spent the last 10 years working in various organisations to undertake research and conservation development projects. He is very much involved in the future direction of the Greater Mara area, advising both private and government entities.

Dickson was one of the initiators of Koiyaki Guiding School and today serves as a member of the management committee.

Rob O'Meara

Conservancy Manager

Rob O'Meara was born and brought up in Kenya. Most Kenyan children who grow up in this diverse country have been on safari before they have been to the local supermarket. No exception, Rob spent his childhood on a farm nurturing an early easiness with the wild outdoors. Working in Nairobi, he developed his artistic skills as a graphic designer becoming Creative Director of his own production Company that soon propelled itself into film making. Hands on filming and editing rolled alongside a passion for wildlife and conservation.

An opportunity came to build and co-own a tented camp in the Maasai Mara within the Olare Orok Conservancy. Believing in a new concept already underway for partnering local landowners and tourism, Rob involved himself in the setup of this Community Conservancy becoming its Manager in 2009. Now living and working within the Conservancy, the challenge is on to develop and model a progressive way forward accommodating wildlife, communities and tourism. Balancing the needs of local landowners and tourism operators, being a silent voice for the wildlife and working for all to thrive in increasingly demanding circumstances.

James Kaigill

Assistant Manager

James Kaigil was born and schooled in the Talek area of the Maasai Mara, and is an integral member of the local community surrounding the Olare Orok Conservancy. He developed a keen understanding of how the pastoral Maasai and their livestock interact with wildlife whilst contracted to ILRI who carried out extensive field research projects studying the effect of human settlements on wildlife distribution and abundance.

Committing himself to conservation in the area, participating on management committees and in workshops, James has now taken on the role of Assistant Manager in the Olare Orok Conservancy. A dedicated job which, amongst other responsibilities, requires educating local landowners on the benefits of wildlife and tourism partnerships as a sustainable means of earning a living. Supported on the ground by a task force of community Scouts, James aids community and tourism relations to work hand in hand.

Ron Beaton

Facilitator and Consultant

Ron Beaton was born in Kenya in 1946. He was brought up in a conservation environment living in Nairobi National Park, Tsavo National Park and the Queen Elizabeth National Park all in East Africa. Schooled through primary and secondary levels at St Marys School Nairobi, and then The Royal Agricultural College in England, Ron spent his teenage holidays on anti poaching safaris in the vast Tsavo National Park, Kenya.

After leaving Agricultural College he worked in different capacities in Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan and the Congo. From sales manager for the German Bayer pesticides company to cattle trading with the Somalis in the Northeastern Kenya desert to coffee trading in the Eastern Congo. Ron was also a major shareholder in a large scale wheat and maize farming business in Maasai-land in Kenya from 1974 to 2006. In 1986 he and his wife Pauline started Rekero a successful up market tourism venture in the Maasai Mara.

In 2005 Ron started the Koiyaki Guiding School whose function was to train indigenous Maasai Safari Guides for the Tourism Industry in the Maasai Mara. In 2006 Ron, together with the Maasai community, formed the Olare Orok Conservancy and together with tourism partners and the community put together initially 8600 Hectares of land for conservation photographic tourism. This area which borders the northern boundary of the Maasai Mara Game reserve is a rich wildlife ecosystem forming an integral part of the famous Wildebeest migration.